2017

Sketches of  Puppies Puppies at Whitney:

Proposal:

   Puppies Puppies is a male artist who was born in Dallas Texas in 1989. In his series Triggers, Puppies Puppies emphasizes on only the trigger mechanism of the gun. The artist draws his viewers attention to the part of the gun that activates the firing sequence. His series makes statement “on the prevalence of gun violence both in the united states and in the media.”(Whitney Biennial) Portraying a different perspective in perceiving and representing gun violence through the use of repetition.

  Triggers are inspired by the artist’s childhood memory of the day that his mother was held gunpoint by two men that had followed her with the intent of kidnapped in which she eventually escaped when the artist was eleven years old. This incident of violence is what led the artist to obtain a personal connectivity to the theme of gun violence.

        What I would do differently is instead of using an actual trigger or gun I would create a visual representation of gun violence through a collage series. My project responds to the artist I chose because I am taking the same theme of gun violence and narrowing it down to gun violence within the police academy. Focusing my message of gun violence into a specific subject in order to generate a deeper, direct and impactful message. Representing ideas of power abuse and corruption of man through mix media of images, stickers, rope and mirrors. I find the subject of power corruption within the police field is not communicated or represented enough culturally. I don’t feel that the government or people of influence is taking larger steps of action in resolving corruption issues. I feel as an artist, my piece represents a way of communicating a powerful statement without the use of language. The series will be a mixture of images and stickers layered on top of one another, connected in some areas with a black or red string onto of a sheet of white drawing paper. The collage shows an image of a large gun controlling and corrupting the mind of a police officer. The police officer face is buried and is layered under a masked face of what appears to be a mash of different images that symbolize and represent influences, illness, corruption and power. The string would be used to make a visual connection that the gun is controlling the mind of an officer in red and that the face of the officer is masked representing hidden identity in black.  The masked face has two pointing guns as eyes, chaotic and demanding mind and a lard mouth with an eyeball inside to represent ideas of hierarchy. I want the masked face to represent and reveal what is inside a corrupt officers mind.

In addition to the series, I designed and assembled and a conceptual box where the viewer would be looking into the box in the perspective of a school shooter. I later cut eight acrylic pieces and glued them together along with stickers assembled inside the box.

First Idea Sketch:

Second Idea Sketch: 

My idea didn’t change, only developed further.

Measurement design and layout:

Digital sketch:

 Collage concept:

Process Making:

the prototype for the conceptual box

Lazer cut illustrator file:

Sticker illustrator file for vinyl printing:

Box construction:

mistakes made was not measuring accurately one of the pieces for the box, so I had to file down the piece so that the box would properly close.

Final Sticker collage: 

Backdrop scanned images for final collage series:

Conceptual Box Process:

 

Final Collage Series:

Final Conceptual Box:

 

Final Statment:

My thought on the end result of my project is an overall stratification. I feel the I portrayed two different approaches in addressing gun violence was an overall success. One being the corruption of power of gun violence within the police force and other is addressing school shooters. I feel that these two approaches go together cohesively because even though they are two different topics of discussion on the same subject, the reality behind both is not far from each other. Being both minds are abusing gun rights. I feel that the collage series displayed on top of the conceptual box influences the viewers, bringing them directly to the issue in visual and conceptual portrayal.
What I would have done differently for the conceptual box would be to have used a different type of glue. I felt the hot glue gun was best in strength but looked messy. I would have hope for the box to look simple clean and fresh but due to the glue, I made the design choice to cover the box with a creative design to cover up the imperfections of the glue. What I would have done differently for the sticker would be to print them out with a white background rather than the clear glossy that I had used. Originally, I felt that the clear glossy would blend the other stickers in with each other smoothly. But found that the clear background made the stickers appear darker when stuck onto the paper. I believe that if the stickers appeared lighter than the printout series would have to be lighter, making all elements of the collage clear and visible.
My work relates to my other classes this semester in the concept that I am addressing cultural issues and portraying my personal approach of promoting awareness through art. I find that in many of my classes my works have been related to mixing art and activism in addressing issues and beliefs I feel strongly about. My work also relates to my other classes in the sense that I used mixed media. I often find myself to be working with a variety of mediums. My work relates to the world and my life outside of the classroom in the sense that I and other artist are addressing activism through the use of art. Making either political or spiritual statement on personal beliefs to then displayed for a larger audience and the public.